Rubrum Mors
by Yakom Tskatsuki
Summary: Jaune - in a deaprate attempt to save his friends - has unknowingly released the power of The Monado. He must learn to control its power or let it destroy him.
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N): Hello everyone, YAKOM here with a new story by the name of Rubrum Mors, or Red Death. This - if you haven't figured it out already - is a RWBY and Xenoblade cross-over. I came up with the idea while playing Xenoblade an noticing the physical similarities between Shulk and Jaune**

 **I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Jaune needed to get his mind off things, and his routine wandering of the emerald forest surly helped. Especially when he's being surounded by grimm on all sides.

"Woo, just what I wanted!" He mocked, cutting through each one. "Alright! I'm really feeling it!"

Jaune had been fighting for sometime now, why are they still coming? Several grimm surrounded him, he could take those. What scared him was the B-class that suddenly decided to show up. _Calamari - a squid like grim, it rapidly generates tenticles to suck the life out of it's pray. I better take it out before this becomes a hentai._ Too bad Jaune soon had to revaluate his skills and prowess, and did after a well-placed strike to the stomach. Upon hitting a tree, he realized he needed to find the rest of his team, and team RWBY, for they often accompany him. They see it as a team bonding experience, though sometimes the seperate like now. Obviously not the smartest idea.

"Pyrrah! Yang! Blake! Anyone! Hell, I'll even take Weiss, just help!" He cried, running through the forest.

In response, Blake and Ruby merged with his path, all of them running beside each other.

"What happened to you guys?" Jaune asked, running with them.

"Grimm, B-class." Blake answered simply, While she didn't talk much, she talked even less in battle.

"Same." Ruby said.

"So, you guys are saying we're being chased by three B-classes!?"

"Yup, I got a deathstalker's aggro on me." Blake replied, they did need to know what they were up against.

"Nevermore is after me." Ruby followed in response.

"Well, this calamari is getting clingy. We better do something before one of us gets tentacle raped," Jaune joked; however, his serious demeanor never left him. Something quickly drew his attention, a massive structure. It looked like a massive hand, the size of Beacon. How this went unnoticed, Jaune had no idea. However, if it hid itself so well, it could hide them too.

"Quick! That cave!" Jaune pointed it out.

"Go!" Blake said.

They all rushed into the cave and took positions behind objects to obscure their positions. Hiding wasn't the worst idea ever created.

"Everyone okay?" Jaune asked, he needed to be a responsible leader.

"Yeah... ugh..." Blake said, her falling out contradicting her claim.

Jaune quickly responded and caught her. It was in this moment he could reflect on her beauty. Moments he received at least once for every girl he'd ever met. This was when Blake's beauty presented itself. Her hair flowing down brilliantly down to the floor as he cradled her close to the ground. Her eyeshade giving off the sense of mystery she often always did. When awake, her eyes would often hypnotize him.

Jaune would've continued his reflections had the cave not started rumbling. Little did they know, they had wandered into a nest of arachnias - rare B-class grimm in the shape of massive spiders only common in area's of high dust concentration. _Why dust?_ In that moment, an arachnia clamped down on a raw lighting dust crystal and shot electrically charged webs. _Oh._ Jaune picked Blake up and jumped out of the way. He tumbled until he hit a pedistal. Floating inside it was a strange artifact. A red sword-like object. Having drop Crocea Mors a few hundred feet back, this is what he needed. He grabbed the hilt and pulled it from over his head, to his front.

A blinding light shone through the cave. The sword had cut back and folded unto itself, before releasing a laser extension.

"What... is this?" Jaune's thoughts were interrupted by a unconscious Ruby falling to his side. "Ruby!" He screamed, rage filled him and he charged recklessly towards the arachnia. He was quickly struck down by electric webs, his muscles contracting to the point he couldn't breathe. He had quickly died of suffication.

He quickly came to his senses, still charging the arachnia. _What was that!?_ Realization struck him, giving him time to prevent the webbing from doing the same. He had dodged the web, but upon reaching the oversized spider it had snapped at him. His legs coming clean off from the pressure of the tight jaws.

Realizing the mistake he technically never made, he jumped over the spider.

"Back slash!" He shouted, cutting clean through the spider upon landing. He turned to another on his backside. "Stream edge!" He cut through the top of the arachnia before he turned to the line of three.

"BUSTER!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. The length of the sword doubling in length before crushing down on the three. They instantaneously disintegrated upon contact with the intense hard-light beam.

"I... I think... I got 'em all." He said.

His victory was short-lived however, for his new blade had shot him full of a high amp electrical current. He let out an agonizingly painful shout, tumble unto the ground of what he did not know as, the right hand of The Bionis.

* * *

 **(A/N): Okay! That is the intro to Rubrum Mors. I don't plan on regularly updating this, mainly because there are already people here probably pissed at me for not updating 'It's Not Smut!' enough. So, sorry about that. Now, for those who are unfamiliar with it, I will soon be restarting 'Deus Ex' on my fictionpress. It just wasn't going in the direction I intended it to. If you haven't read that, you should. Especially if you like RWBY. I will also be starting up the Chaosphere universe, something I planed so intricately. From the end game, to alternate timelines. That's enough for now, so until next time... YAKOM!**


	2. The Monado

**(A/N): Hello everyone, Yakom here with another chapter of 'Rubrum Mors'. I don't have much to say aside from the fact that you should be expecting another chapter of 'It's Not Smut!' soon. Also, major Xenoblade spoilers for anyone who hasn't played past the final fight with Egil.**

* * *

Jaune winced as he sat up, he was on a hospital bed.

"Good to see you up Mr. Arc," Ozpin said, standing by his side. He was holding a strange blade, the blade Jaune almost died using. "What is this strange blade? I don't think I've seen such a thing." Jaune felt that a lie.

"I don't know, but it gave me power. I do believe it bestowed upon me the power of foresight, and an Australian accent." Jaune murmured. His mind overclocked in thought.

"Now, I do remember reading about such a blade. The Monad, no, the Monado I think it was refered to as."

"The Monado..." Jaune looked down to it. Its intracate pommel, to its multi-layered plexi-glass centerpiece, to the blade itself.

"Yes, a blade that can manipulate the very fabric of our existence, Aura. However, they seemed to refer to it as ether."

"Ether? The Monado can control it?" Jaune thought, if this blade could manipulate such a powerful energy, what could he do with it? This power, was it right for him?

"Now, on said reading material, I had read that it manipulates ether to simulate the power of common grimm. Monado Arts were what they were called." Ozpin knew too much for this to be just textbook research.

"You seem awfully versed with this subject, is there something I don't know?" Jaune probed, he need to know what was going on.

"Yes there is a lot you don't know, but there are two things I will explain. One, the Monado is a sword that bends dimensions. Technically, it doesn't even exist on the physical plane, but rather an astral plane. Because of this, it conforms to the laws of our world. It no longer controls ether, instead it controls aura. Also, it kills grimm, unlike most blades that scatter a grimms' energy for it to be recreated. For in the world it comes from, there exists a similar threat by a simple name. The Mechon." Ozpin paused for Jaune.

"The second thing you mentioned? I feel it's important for me to know." It was.

"Jaune, you are the sole heir to the Monado and the reincarnation of the man who created it, Zanza," Jaune's heart dropped, this blade was his. A blade that could rip the very fabric of space, and let him weave the fabric of time to his own will. Could he really control such a power. "However, it is sad to say that this circumstance has made me reveal something you shouldn't know."

"What!? Tell me!" Jaune pleaded, he needed to know what was so unfortunate about his fate. But he soon realized that he had none.

"You - Jaune Arc - do not exist." Ozpin deadpanned. _That isn't right, right?_ Jaune couldn't believe what he had heard. What does it mean!?

That meant that everything he'd ever done was all a fabrication? A figment of his non-existent imagination.

"However, you are real. Everything you've ever done is not a lie. But Jaune Arc is. You are but a corpse, and in you lies the power of Zanza. He has given you new life." Ozpin was fairly knowledgeable about this, but how.

"How do you know so much?"

"I have once wielded this blade, but now it's yours." Ozpin dropped the blade unto Jaune's lap.

Jaune slowly wrapped his right hand around the hilt and his left hand around the pommel. He raised the blade over his head and released the light beam.

"I will teach you it's power." Ozpin said.

Yes, this is what Jaune wanted, _needed._ He needed to be needed by others. It was the only reason he fought, to protect those he loved. Like Pyrrah, Weiss, Yang, Nora, Ren, Blake an-. _Blake! Ruby!_

"Sir, are Blake and Ruby okay!?" Jaune panicked, why are they only just coming to mind? _Oum I'm an asshole._

He stood quickly, the Monado's blade smacking the ground. The Monado reacted violently, the hard-light blade extending and a blue kanji lighting the centerpiece to the Monado. Surrounded in a blue aura, Jaune was no longer in the room. He was down the hall and in another room, Ruby's room. Jaune would have reacted to what had happened, but he had other priorities. Snapping the Monado to his back via some twisted metal protruding from his damaged armor. He pulled Ruby to him and cradled her in his arms.

"Ruby wake up!" He said, his voice cracking. He was in the pain of sorrow, he let this happen. He let tears flow freely from his face

"Jaune...?" Ruby murmured, her eyes opening to see Jaune. "Hey Jaune, don't cry." She said weakly.

"Why wouldn't I, you got hurt because I wasn't strong enough." Jaune whispered.

"And you think crying will make you strong? Jaune, promise me that you'll never cry over me again." Ruby ask that simple thing from him. It pained her to watch him cry. Something she'd never seen from him.

"I... I promise." He promised, and an Arc never goes back on their word.

"Were you all waiting for me to wake?" _You all?_ Jaune's thoughts guided his tear-stained eyes to the rest of team RWBY and JNPR behind them. Some of them sported tears of their own from the heartfelt moment.

"Jaune? Are you okay? Ozpin wouldn't let us see you." Blake asked.

"For good reason," Ozpin said. "Until Shulk, er, Jaune can control the Monado, he is a dangerous hazard to your health." Ozpin said.

"What? Really?" Jaune asked, he didn't want to hurt those he vowed to protect.

"Ha! Nah, in this state the Monado can't hurt people. The blade will just bounce off the skin like rubber," Ozpin chuckled a bit, much to Jaune's dismay. "That said, I believe that you have already learned a few Monado arts. Ones that we will now practice to perfect." Ozpin said, directing Jaune out of the room. "I wish you all good day."

"Wait I ne-"

"I said _good day!_ " Ozpin slammed the door. Everyone heard on the other side 'I've always wanted to do that' before the steps faded.


	3. Loss

**(A/N): Hey everyone, YAKOM here for another chapter of 'Rubrum Mors'. Man, how long has it been? Obviously too long, but still, I need to write. I apologize for those who still care. And now, 'Loss'.**

* * *

 _Jaune stood his ground, grimm falling before his mighty blade. Its glow illuminating all around him. All around him was in a blaze, and it tore through Beacon. He stood in a classroom surrounded by multitude of terminals, many of them shattered and broken. He looked over the horizon - an opening in the wall having been torn open - the sky a blood red. Yes, this was real, this was happening. Beacon has fallen, now he must join the fight to save all around him. He stepped over the rubble of the wall in ruin, crossed the threshold of his destiny. This was his calling. He looked to the blade in his hand: the_ _almighty grimm-slaying sword. The tool he would use to shape the world. He looked over the war zone that was Beacon. He sighted in on his partner._

 _"Pyrrah! Cover me, I'm making a break for the CCT. We need to call for help, and Blake reports that the other com rooms are down."_

 _"Of course Jaune. Don't hurt youself."_

 _"I'll be fine, let's go!" With that, Jaune charged forward. The Monado cutting through everything in his path. Jaune's path was blocked off by two alpha beowolves. He skidded to a stop before activating the Monado. He roared as the aura around him came forth as a grimm dragon._

 _"Buster!"_

* * *

Jaune awoke with a start. _Oh, just a dream._ He sat up on his bed, looking out to the morning sun. Its warm colors splashed across the sky, only obscured by the clouds, of which added to the sky's beauty. Oh how he wished he could bask in its light for the rest of his days.

"You're awake, good," Pyrrha spoke from the bathroom door, dressed in only a loose button-up shirt that stuck to her wet skin. Her slender legs exposed to the world. Her hair wet from the shower she just finished. "Prof. Ozpin needs you in his office, bring the Monado too."

"Yeah. I'll do that. Hey, before I leave-"

"Hm?"

"You've been slacking, both Krono and Lauren are kicking your ass on the leader-boards, and Icarus and Lust are hot on your tail." Jaune cracked a shit eating grin to Pyrrha.

"Y-yeah!? Well you can talk to me when you actually get on the leader-board at all!" Her cheeks puffed like a pouting little girl, before her and Jaune both started cracking up. "You should get out of here."

"Yeah, I'll do that." Unsure of what he was to do, Jaune dressed himself in his new armour he got after his discovery of the Monado. It was heavier than his last set, and protected much more. The breastplate was aqua-green and silver colour, as well as the rest of his armour. He also had an aqua-green cloth around his waist that stretched out like a wide tail behind him. The arm-guards when only to just above his elbow where it was then replaced by white cloth running down the length of his arm. Upon his head were two horn-like entities. Overall, the armour looked more ceremonious than anything else.

He took the Monado into his hand, picked it up and examined it closely: the weight, multi-layered glass interface, the grip trigger. This was his weapon now, quite strange. He looked to his Crocea Mors and frowned. He never needed it, but he was still upset that it was just collecting dust, and not the spectacular kind. Still, he doesn't need it. It never felt right.

He gripped the door handle and twisted it open, pushing the door aside and walking into hall. He was greeted by a small entity latching on to his back. He reached up and patted the small girl on the head.

"Hey Ruby." Jaune greeted, pulling her off him.

"Hey, Jaune! Where are you going?" She questioned.

"Ozpin's office. More Monado training."

"Cool, but you know what'd be cooler? Cookies with me in the cafeteria!"

"I don't know Rubes, you know how Ozpin gets."

"Come on! Please?" She hit him with some heavy puppy eyes. He couldn't resist! Maybe in some other parallel universe he has several sisters and an eventual immunity, unfortunately, he did not.

"Fine." He smiled at her glowing face. _Worth it._

* * *

"So, I do a lot of thinking in the shower. Last night I had a thought: we are who we are today because of events that transpired in the past. So say if people that exist now, didn't exist in some other universe. Imagine how fucked up everything would. Or maybe even more mind blowing. If someone existed here that isn't supposed to be!" Ruby waved her arms wildly.

"Yeah, like team KILL. They always seemed out of place," Jaune reflected on her words. "Whoa, what if Yang was your sister in another world!?" Ruby cackled at his words.

"Her puns would kill me in the first week! You remember Winter Schnee?" Jaune nodded. "What if instead of being Weiss' sister, she was her aunt instead?" Jaune decided to continue that train of thought.

"Yeah! And she totally fucked your uncle and had a kid!" Ruby's face scrunched up.

"God, you're disgusting!" They laughed.

They continued tossing up hypothetical situations around. What if Pyrrha had a sister? What if Ozpin and Goodwitch had a kid? Krono sounds like Cronus, what if he was some kind of god? It also sounds like chrono, like in chronometer, what if he could control time. What if Goodwitch was a bitch and not Ozpin?

"Jaune Arc!" Speaking of bitches. "I requested you in my room an hour ago! What were you doing!?"

Jaune raised a hand with a cookie in it. "Cookies!"

"And that is more important than our meeting?" Jaune paused for a moment to collect his thoughts.

"Yes." He said with much conviction.

Ruby then chirped up. "Ooh! What if you didn't have the balls to do stupid shit like that? Or if you always made the correct decisions and didn't have to correct your mistakes in hindsight?"

"Bitch did I ask you!?" The two laughed until a loud thwack sounded, silencing the room.

"Ah fuck, I can't believe you've done this." Jaune sounded to Ozpin.

"My office, now."

"Yes sir." No more jokes huh?

* * *

Blood. So thick on his skin. He trembled and shook under its weight, transcending form. It was rather a figurative weight. He clutched the girl's blood stained hair, looking back at his friend. His green robe had been torn by debris landing on him. His pink eyes wide in panic.

"Ren!" Nora screamed. She pulled and tugged away from Jaune, but to no avail. "Let me go!" She broke Jaune's grip and crawled to Ren.

She lost feeling in her left arm, crawling only with her right arm. Two rusted segments of rebar jutting out of her back: one between her spine and left shoulder blade, and one just above her pelvis. Jaune could only watch on in fear. _How could this have happened?_ It was so calm, but peace does not last. On his way to Ozpin's private lesson when the bomb went of in the terminal room. He looked outside, the White Fang was behind this, and now they were releasing grimm into the school.

"Ren are you okay?" She said quietly, sobbing with Ren in her arms.

"Nora. Nora, I can't feel my legs." Ren said in a panic, stumbling over his words.

"It's going to be okay. I promise." Nora said, becoming increasingly quiet. The light was fading from her eyes and her blood was pooling on the floor. She tumbled onto her side.

"Nora!" Ren yelled, crawling to her side.

"Ren, I don't want to die."

"No, you won't! You can't!" Ren yelled. His hands running over her cheeks, yet trembling.

"Ren, I love you." Ren's eyes widened, then softened in realization.

"I-I love you too." Nora simply smiled in response. Her hand slowly moving up to his nose, tapping it lightly.

"Boop."

* * *

Grimm flooded the room he was in. His Monado cutting through the Beowolves and Ursai. He fought until he emptied the room. All around him was in a blaze, and it tore through Beacon. He stood in a classroom surrounded by multitude of terminals, many of them shattered and broken. He looked over the horizon - an opening in the wall having been torn open - the sky a blood red. Yes, this was real, this was happening. Beacon has fallen, now he must join the fight to save all around him. He stepped over the rubble of the wall in ruin, crossed the threshold of his destiny. This was his calling. He looked to the blade in his hand: the almighty grimm-slaying sword. The tool he would use to shape the world. He looked over the war zone that was Beacon. He sighted in on his partner.

"Pyrrah! Cover me, I'm making a break for the CCT. We need to call for help, and Blake reports that the other com rooms are down."

"Of course Jaune. Don't hurt youself."

"I'll be fine, let's go!" With that, Jaune charged forward. The Monado cutting through everything in his path. Jaune's path was blocked off by two alpha beowolves. He skidded to a stop before activating the Monado. He roared as the aura around him came forth as a grimm dragon.

"Buster!"

The grimm evaporated as the blade's light flooded into them. However, he stood and looked about, dissastisfied with how many grimm were still around. He needed to up the ante. _Alright, let's go!_

"Monado! Enchant!" Jaune shouted. He jammed the Monado into the ground, its glow blinding all around him. Through the multi-layered glass center, a ghostly figure emerged. It was a translucent Deathstalker tail! Jaune lifted his arm and flexed it beside him, and the tail stung him. He took in the stinger's venomous steroid, and his muscle mass increased armour cracked under the pressure before it snapped off, underneath, his figure was a lot more defined, but not quite that of a body builder.

Jaune rushed through the gardens of Beacon and to the front courtyard. There he found Blake fighting off a multitude of high-class grimm, but alas she was not strong enough to finish them and was quickly knocked to the ground.

"Blake!" Jaune shouted. He charged forward, cutting through the grimm quick and easy. "Are you okay!?" Jaune approached Blake, cradling her in his arms. She had been knocked into the fountain, her now wet clothes clinging to her body, and her wet hair coming together into a curtain that cascaded into the water.

"I'm fine, where's everyone else?"

"Pyrrha is in the gardens, Ren was just evacuated. Weiss and Yang are clearing out the back rooms and courtyards."

"What about Nora?" Jaune flinched and Blake had come to a definite conclusion. "What about Ruby!? Tell me she's okay!" Jaune's eyes quickly widened in shock.

"We have to find Ruby!" Jaune yelled, he pulled Blake up. "Can you fight? No, nevermind. I'll look myself." Jaune turned to leave.

"Jaune! Wait!" Blake called.

But he paid no heed.

* * *

"Ruby! Where are you?!" Jaune called, only finding that grimm would heed his call. It seemed all was lost until he remembered where she might be.

* * *

 _"Pretty cool huh?" Ruby asked, nonchalant._

 _"Yeah, this is fantastic." Jaune said._

 _They sat upon the highest vantage point in all Vale: the CCT. They were on the roof, as they had snuck in and taken to tossing themselves through the window to the slanted spire on top. It was a sight to behold, the sunset over the city. The warm colours splashed across the sky, and the beautiful but foreboding darkness growing behind them. It was lovely. Here they were, eating a bar of sea-salt ice cream._

 _"Hey, have you ever wondered why the sun sets red?" Ruby asked, and Jaune only chuckled in response._

 _"No, not even a little bit. Why don't you tell me?" He replied, flicking his ice cream forward before biting into it again._

 _"Well. Light works in weird ways, and when the sun sets, it's always so far. But the red light works hard to be seen, it's the colour that travels the furthest."_

 _"That's quite nice, maybe we should strive to be red. To work hard and travel great lengths to achieve our goals," Jaune softly let out. He then finished his ice cream with Ruby. "Well, it's not like it'll last forever."_

 _"It could if we protected it."_

 _"Doesn't matter to me, as long as you're here. I'll be fine." Ruby then tossed her body onto Jaune._

 _"Is that so? Nice to know I have my knight in shining armour!" She chuckled, before they both started laughing._

 _Their breathing calmed and they observed their position: Ruby straddling Jaune._

 _"Ruby-" Jaune was cut off by Ruby's finger, hovering over his mouth as she let out a small hush._

 _"Quiet now." She said, leaning into him. She came closer to his face and he realized her intentions and followed suite. Soon their lips touched and they kissed._

 _They kissed as the sun dipped under the horizon and the stars grew bright in the night._

* * *

Jaune soon made it to the CCT. Standing outside, he look for signs of Ruby. But what he found instead was horrifying.

Before him was a stack of corpses, and bt them he found the owner. It was a creature, much like grimm, but it couldn't be! Impossible! It was almost formless, an enigma. Jaune knew exactly what it was but he could not describe it. It was white, and it had ethereal glowing blue eyes. It look through Jaune, into his soul. However, it left, climbing up the tower. Jaune felt compelled to chase it, and he did.

He entered the lobby on the ground floor only to see the enigmatic grimm crawl up the elevator shaft and make the elevator plummit from summit. It was now out of order, leaving Jaune for the stairs.

Having climbed to the top, he found what he was worried about. A bloodied Ruby fighting the enigma. She fought with vigor, the blood obviously wasn't hers.

"Ruby!" Jaune shouted. It got the enigma's attention and it pushed Ruby aside off the tower, luckily she grabbed hold of the edge.

Jaune sought to kill the enigma, yet the Monado could not slice it. It was no use. It phased through the grimm.

"What? No!" He continued as best he could, alas it was not to be. He simply could not kill it.

"Hey! Fuck face!" Ruby shouted. She proceeded to shoot a volley of bullets in its direction, all useless. It knocked Jaune to the side, focusing on a more interesting toy.

"No! Don't Ruby!" Jaune called out.

But she paid no heed.

The enigma shuffled slowly towards Ruby, all bullets passing through it. Ruby's shooting became frantic as she desperately tried to kill this horror. However, her efforts were in vain.

" _Ruby_!" Jaune called out to her, and watched as this formless being plunged its claws into Ruby. Her body became lifeless and the beast tossed her down the side of the tower. " _No_!" Jaune's voice was raspy. He screamed his lungs out. His heart filled with anger, rage, hate. His aura flared and he stepped forth, Monado in hand.

He came behind the enigma, cutting through it without giving it time to react. It screeched a deathly screech. The Monado's blade strangely seemed to give the enigma form. It seemed humanoid, but Jaune couldn't quite tell as the humanoid grimm lost form and became an enigma once more. It cowered away from his blade, before deciding to take its leave.

"I'm not forgiving."

* * *

"Ruby!" Jaune called, finding her limp body on the ground just outside the CCT.

He took her into his arms and held her close. He laid a kiss on her forhead, rocking back and forth. His eys were clouded with tears that cascaded down his face. He was whimpering hysterically, reason long since lost. His mind no longer quite whole, nor his heart.

"Jaune, please," Ruby whispered. Jaune nodded, whispering 'yes' many times, atesting to his mental stability. "Before I go, I must ask you a favor," Jaune's sobbing had not stopped, and in fact had grown louder.

"Please, don't cry for my sake." Ruby smiled, tears rolling down her cheeks. Her eyes slowly drifted shut.

She had left, and with her, Jaune's tears.

* * *

 **(A/N): Hey everyone, sorry this took so long to do, and it's riddled with grammar errors. Regardless, I hope that 'multiple worlds interpretation' thing explained OOC stuff. Hope you enjoyed and until next time, YAKOM!**


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